The premise is pretty simple, 'average' girl ends up living with three guys in pursuit of her dream as a pastry chief. Of course, shenanigans ensue. It's touching, it's dramatic, and it even got me to tear up a little bit.
I really enjoyed the chemistry between cast members. You could tell from VS Arashi they were all friends after filming, and during their scenes it was really impressive. Kento Yamazaki, and Kirie Mirai have absolutely stunning chemistry between them. And Nomura Shuhei is the perfect balance between serious moments and comic relief (without being a joke himself). Shuhei was even cast in the Taiwanese adaptation! The setting is in Enoshima, not too far away from Tokyo (closer to Yokohama though) which was a refreshing change of pace.
My friends and I agree that Chiaki's character development was rather sad, in comparison to the others. And there is a weird insert character whoose got no purpose or name but causes a lot of grief for the others, that we found rather boring and unneeded.
I've already recommended this drama to friends, and I watched it in Japan and with subs after leaving Japan. Not a top favorite of mine, and I won't be rewatching unless it's with friends/for nostalgia but it's a sweet drama worth watching.
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The story is just basically simple but enough to keep you interested and make your heart go doki-doki (flutter) with every cute scenes. I was actually envious of Mirei (or Misaki's character) for having the opportunity to live with the brothers, such a lucky situation, plus they adore her and almost fall for her.
Some may think that some of the acting or portrayal of the actors are way too exaggerated or over-the-top, but as a more jdrama fan (specially a live-action adaptation), I am more used to it, or just kinda expected that to happen, and for me, that adds more charm to the drama.
I think Yamazaki Kento's acting keeps on improving as he takes more roles nowadays. Shuhei Nomura, as Touma - the youngest one is my favorite character in this story. He is so free-spirited, playboy, and tactless, but somehow his words makes sense. And I love how he is so supportive of Misaki, even if he have a little crush on her.
Another reason to watch this drama is the food, specially those mouthwatering display of desserts!
Though as much as I wished that this drama have more episodes or at least reached until 12 episodes, I am satisfied how it went till the final end. It didn't left me feeling something missing, it just went how it should be. I only want it to last long because I still want to see them all together because I love how each of the actors played their characters, meaning they have a very good chemistry working together.
The soundtrack is also good. I haven't checked out the meaning of the lyrics, but it is nice to listen to.
I would watch it again, in fact I may be watching it this weekend. Please watch it too, and hope you enjoy!
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My biggest issue with this drama (apart from the fact that I’m not a fan of leads who act like jerks and who we’re supposed to find romantic rather than toxic) is that the story is all over the place. There’s a story-line involving the three brothers, with a mystery in the middle, which gets resolved halfway through and ends up going nowhere. There’s a story-line about the restaurant they have and trying to make it succeed while not selling out, and it also ends up going nowhere. There’s a story-line about the female lead’s quest for professional growth which ends up only serving the “romantic” story-line. There’s a backstory of a character to make them less two dimensional which also ends up going nowhere. All in all, it’s like every ingredient which could have turned this into less of a cliche and more innovative was pushed aside in the benefit of the overused story-line of the love triangle.
Out of all the characters, the only one I found memorable and whose performance I enjoyed enough was Nomura Shuhei’s Touma (the youngest sibling). He’s the only one I feel has a story arc which involves making personal changes, realizing mistakes and repairing damages he has caused. The rest, I can’t say much. It seemed Miura Shohei’s character was going towards a reasonable development and in the last few episodes his entire character turned 180° for the sake of the cliche romance. It seemed that Kiritani Mirei’s character had more substance to her than being the sweet main lead who tends to be too kind for her own good, but all about her drive and career seemed to just serve the cliche romance.
And Yamazaki Kento’s character deserves a paragraph on his own. He is the jerk male lead, the one we’ve seen at least 4 times this year: we saw him in Dean Fujioka’s Mamiya Hokuto in Happy Marriage, in his Kurosawa Ayumu in Please Love the Useless Me and in Shiraishi Shunya’s Uehara Hisashi in Good Morning Call. I really dislike this trope, I think it’s toxic as heck, but the rest of the dramas at least tried for me to feel for the guy. They intended to introduce a backstory (mostly tied in with family grief) in which I could say “oh, so this is why he’s a jerk”. It never worked, but they tried. Here, everything that happens to this character, all the troubles and external arcs to change him, happen in the timeline of the drama. There is no reason why he acts this way and he doesn’t change his attitude with anything that happens to him. He has that kind of extremely subtle character change which stans of him will call development but I call bad writing.
The reason why this drama isn’t my complete least favorite of the bunch is because it’s very nicely filmed and, mostly, decently performed. The shots were brilliant and they paid attention to detail, the cinematography was very enjoyable. There are some things in the story I found interesting, like the family mystery I mentioned, the somewhat complex way in which they tried to introduce the “ex girlfriend” cliche and the youngest brother’s character growth. But it doesn’t have enough to be different from the rest of the dramas with the same trope.
All in all, if this is a trope you enjoy and male leads being jerks is your thing, for some reason, this is a very well done one of those. If you’re looking for something innovative, different and devoid of love triangles, dates in aquariums, firework festivals being a “big romantic deal” and lots and lots of misunderstandings and “I hurt you because I want to protect you” scenes, there’s not much here for you. Except for an omelette with a burger inside, which is pretty good.
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The STORY is as cliche as you would expect from the premise. At first I thought that they would focus more on the culinary themes they present to us at first but don't be fooled the romance quickly steals the spotlight which was disappointing.
Honestly I am surprised that this is not an adaptation of some sorts because it is really shoujo manga-ish.
At first I was fine with the story, because at the time they really focused on the food making and Misaki's struggle to get along with the chef. Cliche but enjoyable.
Then followed some drama that wasn't annoying but my attachement to the characters was lacking so I really had to force myself to care about what was going on.
But somewhere in the last third of the drama the story just became ridiculous. One unnecessary misunderstanding after another. They really lead to basically nowhere and were predictable as well as annoying as hell.
The CHARACTERS are probably the best and the worst part of this drama. Now prepare your forks and torches. I didn't like Kanata's character. I assume most of you know what this term means and if you don't a quick google search will help. He was a prime example of a tsundere. Now at first it was cute and all but God later on I really struggled. Kanata was mean and insensitive, never apologised because the writers made it out to be that he was always right but I didn't feel that way. Even if you were right you still have to apologise for losing your temper am I not right?! Now Yamazaki Kento did a pretty good job at playing this kind of character, he sort of managed to portray the subtle changes of expression to not make it seem like Kanata was a robot. Misaki was pretty cliche (you know the clumsy type) too but I enjoyed the fact that she was somewhat stronger than a lot of female leads I have been seeing recently. Her passion for work was admirable.
Honestly the more I think about it the more I come to a conclusion that all the characters are prototypes created by shoujo writers:
Takana - tsundere.
Misaki - the clumsy type.
Chaki - the kind one in the love triangle.
Kaede - the love rival that is seemingly way better than the main heroin. In this one she was such a tool for the writer that I laughed.
And lastly couple characters for comic relief.
The writers didn't create anything with this one, they just took what someone had already made and mixed it together.
OVERALL it wasn't as bad as I am making it out to be. We are all guilty of loving cliches so why should the writers stop using them. There were quiet a few of momment that I enjoyed despite everything. What ruined this for me was Kanata's character so if you like tsunderes then you will enjoy it way more than I did. But if you're tired of unoriginality then stay away.
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Story | Maybe it's just me, but the plot felt new but it also felt like a cliche by the way it was made. Main girl losses her job, runs into her childhood crush etc. It was a cute storyline. I liked the idea of Misaki getting the opportunity to work in a new environment with the brothers of Sea Sons. Their background and everything was a nice touch while the storyline moved well enough and everything made sense.
Cast | I really enjoyed the cast. Of course a favorite of most is Yamazaki Kento, and I'm going to have to jump on that bandwagon. I can honestly say that I believe his acting and his character are what made this drama as good as it was. Him as a chef was perfection and what we all needed in life ~ His chemistry with Kiritani Mirei was perfect. I adored them together. Every scene of them arguing, goofing off and having serious moments, it was all great to watch. Although some of Mirei's actions were a bit annoying, I liked her as Misaki. Chiaki and Touma were also great supporting characters, although I'm not one for Chiaki's personality. But that's all personal. All the other supporting roles were a great add on.
Music | The only song I remember is the main theme by JY (Jiyoung from Kara!) and it's such a nice sone to listen to. I think they also used this song in a slower pace towards the end of the series and I fell in love with the song again.
Rewatch | As much as I enjoyed the drama, rewatching it will probably be unlikely. I was instantly hooked for the first 7 episodes but sadly, the last 3 were lackluster for me. Usually with Japanese dramas, 9-10 episodes is enough for the writers to start a story, create a climax and then finish it nicely, but it seemed with this one that it added too much to the last 3 episodes. I kept asking myself "but why.." constantly while finishing the last couple episodes.
Overall | This has been the first Japanese drama I've seen in a while that was really refreshing. Maybe it was because they were always by the sea, I'm not really sure, but I really enjoyed it. It was a nice short drama to watch over the summer and it is really easy to get through. I'm hoping that there will be some sort of special later on because I truly enjoyed the chemistry this cast had. I recommend people watch this when they want to get away from certain genres that aren't obviously romantic ~
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The oldest brother hires the pastry chef to serve as the restaurant's pâtissière for the summer and also invites her to stay in one of the empty rooms in the house where he lives with his brothers. Between the work at the restaurant and life at home there is plenty of opportunity for drama.
Fans of the 'Enemies to Lovers' trope best be warned: the ML in this series (Kanata) starts out as one of the meanest jerks in any drama I've ever watched, and even by the very end he's still got a way to go before he'll ever become Prince Charming. This is a guy who in his very first meeting with the FL (Misaki) takes delight in watching her literally fall flat on her face on a public beach. And from there it only gets worse between them.
Truth be told, for Misaki the early episodes of AGATS are quite an ordeal. Kanata makes no allowance for her lack of life experience and seems to despise her wide-eyed view of the world, mocking it at every turn. When she tries to create a beautiful dessert that will impress him enough to start taking her pastry skills seriously, he ends up knocking it out of her hands so it lands in a messy pile on the floor, totally ruined. Then he simply walks away after ordering her to clean up the mess.
Eventually things warm up between them, and one thing I actually give this drama credit for is that Kanata's unapproachability remains consistent even after he has fallen in love with Misaki. In so many dramas of this type a rude lead character will turn into a pussycat once feelings develop for their counterpart. Not here. Yes, Kanata does tone it down in the insult department and shows flashes of affection and appreciation, but to the very end he retains that core of grouchiness.
I don't want to make too much of all this because this is a fun drama that I highly recommend. The performances are all first-rate, and for those who don't like plot complications that get too intense there's only a moderate level of angst. The love triangles (there are two) aren't taken to any extremes, and even the menacing rich guy who's constantly appearing on the scene with his threat to take over the restaurant ends up having more bark than bite.
Each of the three brothers gets his own plotline that isn't directly related to the FL. To me the one involving the youngest brother was the most touching. On the outside he's a happy kid without a care in the world but we eventually come to see the pain and resentment under the surface. I really like how this was handled and resolved, and Nomura Shuhei deserves credit for his nuanced performance in the role.
The performance by Yamazaki Kento as Kanata is simply fantastic. The actor is required to convey so much of his character's thoughts and feelings with only his eyes and facial expressions, and, much like Misaki does, over the course of the series we have to learn how to 'decode' him before we can understand where he's coming from. (I was happy to spend the time studying him this way because looks-wise he's very easy on the eyes.)
What I quibble with in AGATS is that the series never tells us why Kanata, who has grown up in a loving household and is on his way to achieving his dream of becoming a reknowned chef, has such a hostile outlook on the world. I also wish that Misaki had been more confrontational in those moments when he treated her the worst. Too often it seemed that she'd flare up and get in a couple of good retorts but then retreat. It felt like Kanata got away with too much.
Further regarding Misaki, like the FLs in many dramas she comes across as a little *too* naive, however compared to the immature FLs in such series as 'Thirty But Seventeen' she is a model of maturity. Still, it's never exactly clear to me why Kanata goes from despising her to falling in love. This is one reason I'd like to rewatch this series someday, to see if there are clues that I'll notice the second time around.
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But let's start with what I actually liked:
First off the music. The osts are pretty good in my opinion and fit the drama very well.
The food was of course great. It looked delicious and very pretty.( I wished they shared more of the actual cooking and recipes.)
And what I personally liked best, the absolutely breathtaking scenery. This was shot at the most beautiful locations and it made me really want to visit these places.
That said here is my criticism:
First off the story.
I was dissapointed. The plot turned out to be a typical shojo esque kind of theme.
There is a love triangle, most arguments come to be through lack of communication and the characters did fall flat for me.
Tanaka, who I think was supposed to be stoic and cool on the outside and warm and sensitive on the inside, came across as moody and cold. I didn't see much "acting". Yamazaki kento almost had no facial expression so you couldn't tell how he was feeling inside or when he was really struggling.
Toumas characters seemed to be a real douche to me until episode 7.
He acted immature like a teen in his rebellious phase. Skipping school, smoking being mean to his girlfriend etc.
I think there was a huge need in exploring more of his character and how he came to be that way instead of giving just a teeny tiny explanation in episode 7 and then have a huge character improvement wich is pretty unrealistic.
For Taichi you could tell a seasoned actor was playing the role. Even though I've only seen 2 of Miura Shoheis previous works this was not my favorite. His character seemed boring to me.
I also didn't understand the shift in his love interest even though he reunited with his ex and his brother already liked Misaki. The whole character is build on the love for his siblingsso I didn't understand why he actedb so selfish all of a sudden. I think that needed more acting out in the storyline.
For the female lead Misaki san what can I say.
Just very generic female lead. No special or unique trademark no other hobbies or interests besides baking. No weaknesses you could identify with.
Just not good writing in that department.
She seemed to me fickle minded not really professional at times, and all around acted more like a teenager the first time in love when she was supposed to be a 26 old woman.
I also found some questions that were left open/
Plot holes:
Why didn't the dad tell tanaka that he's adopted?
What happened with the siblings mom?
What happened with Kaedes brothers debt does she still need to pay him?
How did Chiakis feelings change so quickly?
What happens to Toumas education?
Why does the jiji want to buy sea sons,
And why does he help Tanaka in the end,
Who is he?
So that is my review. My favorite genre is indeed romance and comedy but this was not up to par with me
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This drama seemed like a reverse harem to me but it was limited to being a love triangle only (thankfully). I think my favourite person in the entire drama was the main actress. Not only is she crazy pretty but also acted so well. She managed great chemistry with all three brothers and her interactions with all were enjoyable in their own way. I am sure when you watch this, you'll probably like a different brother. For me all three were equally likable although the second was a bit more frustrating than the others. There's also who you wanna ship because that makes it another level of fun throughout the 10 episodes.
I loved how this drama was shot in different locations than usual J-dramas and I got to see a part of Japan I am not familiar with. I love the Japanese for their culture, and this drama sort of shows how there is more to their country than just skyscrapers and metropolitan areas.
This drama is a perfect mix of family, romance, food and friendship genres and neither of the elements outweigh the others. I wasn't too familiar with the cast but I know now that Kenta is somewhat big in Japan. Also a random note- if you are a fan of the Kpop group Kara then you're in for bit of a surprise in here (don't get your hopes up tho).
I loved this drama and had to contain myself to not watch it raw when subs didn't come out on time. It is light and there's almost no melodrama which was a good break from Kdramas for me. It becomes a bit dull in the last few episodes but the cheesy airport ending makes up for it. In fact, I am hoping for a season 2.
Watch it and I'm sure you will not regret it. 10 episodes will fly by before you even know it. It's good got rewatchability score too.
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SETTING: Beautiful scenery and compositions that went well with the emotions of the storyline.
CHARACTERS: A bit straining to watch, but likeable nonetheless. Especially the main couple...yup, I had them ship feels.
Would recommend to someone who: kinda feels like needing a break from all the action going on in life / wants to enjoy some cute characters in a summery landscape / just loves food ;P
(and someone please manage to tell me how yamazaki kento looks so good in those ridiculous undershirts)
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A decent drama about relationships
The story started off pretty well ( but try not to be so logical when watching this drama or else you won't like it much).I thought it was more romantic, with the previous adaptation i saw primarily focused on relationships and romance, but this one had a twisted turn.
The FL seems very lost at first, but as the story goes on, she realizes her true feelings and purpose in her life. She truly matures. One thing that bothered me about her was that she acted quite unreal and a bit fake at times, shouting and making unnecessary noises lol
The MLs aka the brothers: I think the eldest and the youngest all had good character development. We could understand their characters from the beginning, yet the middle brother's development was somehow shallow. He was cranky in the beginning and started caring for the FL, yet he acted out of character all the time. I couldn't feel the chemistry between him and the FL. it wasn't just there.
The story has minimum dragginess. The problems are addressed and somehow solved in the end. There are no loose ends.
Overall, an enjoyable Jdrama.
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